Please contact Robert Gibbens to thank the USDA for citing Oregon
Health and Science University & insist they finish the job and issue a
major fine for the negligence which killed 7 primates and injured 15
others.

More than half the rhesus macaques at an experimental research center
of the Oregon Health & Science University are suffering abnormal hair
loss, triggering the federal government to require OHSU adopt a plan to
correct it.

The treatment plan comes on top of other corrective actions OHSU has
taken at the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Hillsboro after
a group of 260 rhesus macaques, apparently irritated by nearby
construction noise, began fighting amongst themselves in June 2013,
leading to the hospitalization of 21 of them. Six died or were
euthanized.

The information is found in an April 2 U.S. Department of Agriculture
inspection report released by Michael Budkie of the Ohio-based group
Stop Animal Exploitation Now. He called for the USDA to issue the
maximum penalty possible for "incompetent" care.

OHSU officials have defended their efforts to ensure ethical and
humane treatment of animals. On Thursday the university released a
statement that the issues are being dealt with and that OHSU reported
many of them to the federal government, rather than waiting until an
inspection. The university hosts public tours and publicly posts
inspection reports online.

The primate center houses about 5,000 primates, the bulk of them
rhesus macaques. They are used for research into areas such as stem
cells, preventing hereditary diseases in newborns and an HIV vaccine.

But animal welfare laws enforced by the federal government require
humane conditions, hence the regular inspections by the USDA.

After the outbreak of fighting last July, OHSU halted construction
and relocated the monkeys, then upgraded their corral with "enrichment"
such as swimming tubs, branches and treats, while improving their
housing and placing them under monitoring by the center's Behavioral
Services Unit, according to the report.

The inspection also found dirty bedding, cracked walls making it hard
to disinfect, and that a monkey died during an operation, apparently
because of faulty use of an anesthesia machine.

While hair loss is normal for birthing mothers, at the OHSU facility
"animals of all ages and both genders are affected," the report said,
calling for behavioral therapy and research to solve the problem.
Macaque hair loss can have physical or psychological causes and
"negatively influences the skin protection and thermoregulation
abilities of the affected animals."